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12/17/2014

Almost 100 stakeholders from 25 countries attended the conference Improving the Integration of Key Competences in School Education, stretching across the various education communities involved in policy, research and practice. The goal was to launch KeyCoNet’s recommendations to a broad group of key stakeholders involved in key competence development in school education. EPA was invited to be at the conference and contribute to the discussion as a panellist. We are also committed to helping the dissemination of KeyCoNet’s recommendations at national, regional, European or local level, to ensure they are put to good use by the various stakeholders you work with in your daily professions.

FNAP-IP,
our Romanian member hosted the last EPA conference of 2014 in Bucharest in the grand
building of the national Parliament. The topics of the conference - school
violence and early school leaving (ESL) – are both burning issues in the host
country as well as other parts of Europe. Our speakers tried to answer the
question how parental involvement help to decrease both problems and how to
involve parents, especially those with disadvantaged backgrounds. The importance
of the conference was highlighted by the fact that it was greeted by the
Minister of Education – on Skype from Senegal -, the General Mayor of Bucharest
and a high ranking official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. All keynote
speakers of the first day offered workhops on the second day to make it
possible for participants to share their thoughts and good practices.

Keynote by Nóra Ritók at the EPA Conference in Bucharest 28/29 November 2014

My
foundation works in East Hungary, in one of the poorest regions of the country.
We work for integration with families living in extreme poverty. Most of these
families are Roma. Among this population early school leaving is a significant
problem. There are many causes of this problem. First of all we have to
understand the families, the circumstances, the possibilities. These families
live in very poor and terrible circumstances. There are five to eight, sometimes
ten children in one family. In the second part of the month they have no more
money to buy food for their children. This situation is not acceptable in the
twenty first century in Europe. These people are expected to do things they are
far from being able to.

12/05/2014

This year, the International Volunteer day highlights the contribution of volunteers in engaging people from the grass-roots in decision-making processes, ultimately creating space for participation that leads to: stronger governance, social cohesion, peace and sustainable development. Volunteers develop personal, social and civic competences that are seldom recognised by educational institutions and companies. The International Volunteer day is a good opportunity to recall the importance of ensuring the possibility for volunteers to have their learning outcomes recognised and to push for the better social and political recognition of volunteering for society and for democracy.

The 17th International Conference on Thinking (ICOT 2015), which will take place in Bilbao between June 28th and July 4th 2015. The conference that will focus on the application of Thinking in Education, the Arts, Business and Sport is supported by EPA being FAPAE (our local member) actively involved in its organization. The focus is to develop understanding about the key competence of Learning to Think creatively and critically. Read a detailed report by FAPAE on the organisation and the event.

European Parents' Association

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